ISRO makes history: launches 104 satellites in one go!
On 15 February, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s PSLV-C37 succesfully launched its Cartosat-2D primary payload, along with a record-breaking 103 co-passenger satellites. The mission was the thirty-ninth flight of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and the sixteenth PSLV flight in ' XL' configuration, with strap- on solid motors. Primary payload mass was 714 kg and total mass of the 103 co-passenger satellites was around 663 kg, for a total payload mass of about 1,377 kg. The satellites were placed into a 505-km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).
The co-passenger satellites comprised 101 nano- satellites, one each from Kazakhstan, Israel, The Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE), 96 from the United States of America, as well as two from India. PSLV-C37 also carried two additional ISRO nano-satellites (INS-1A and INS-1B), with four different scientific payloads from ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems (LEOS).
The 101 international customer satellites were launched as part of the commercial arrangement between Antrix Corporation, a Government of India company under the Department of Space, the commercial arm of ISRO, and the various international customers.